Bird's jewelry typically ranges from $500 to $1,500, so do the math on those savings.

Yes, I have a hyperactive imagination. Maybe even some kind of dysesthesia where I can look at an object and psychically feel the history of the object in its underlying energy. Except totally made up. Pure fantasy. Not that there is a version of this imaginary synesthesia that produces accurate historical accounts.

Regardless.

When I look at Marie-Juliette Bird's jewelry, I can see two different stories simultaneously unwinding. And at least one of these is true. Because Bird told it to me.

I see a Boulder musician with smooth dark hair and matching eyes walking through the winding, cobblestone streets of London. It's raining (duh). She's in the craft and jewelry district, Hatton Gardens, not far from Letter Lane, a gritty slab of east London where letter production originated.

She went to London to work on her music, but while there, she found a different inspiration. She can see it now: these perfect little trinkets, recontextualized into modern jewelry. Neo-Victorian, with an edge -- like her own style. She's always felt an inexplicable draw to the lace, detail, delicacy and precision of the Victorian era. She wants to bring that same sense to modern society, with the same handcrafted attention to detail.

She's walking through these streets in search of necklace chains and a solderer. But the shops are staffed by grumpy, old British tradesmen who shake their heads at her idea. The charms are too delicate, and they don't want to touch it. It can't be done. It's ridiculous, you silly little girl.

Maybe it is out there, and maybe that's her draw to it. She doesn't give up. Years of searching finally lead her to a tiny custom casting house in Michigan that specializes in "lost-wax casting," an old style of casting whereby metals are cast from a sculpture -- not just computerized reproductions.

This two moon necklace is priced at $1,067. (Blackbird in the Snow/Courtesy photo)

The end result was launched on Black Friday this year: a fine-jewelry business called Blackbird and the Snow (blackbirdandthesnow.com). The hat pins have been recast as accurately as possible and transformed into necklaces, earrings and rings. You can find them at Max, 1177 Walnut St., Boulder, and online.

Which brings us to the second story of Blackbird and the Snow. Each of these pins had a life before Bird.

"I always wondered when I picked up an old piece at the antique market: 'Who had this? Where did they wear it?' " Bird says. "It's interesting to imagine, but there's no way of knowing exactly where they came from. Or how they became so popular."

The wing star ring is an example of how Victorian charms can be recontextualized into a modern piece. This ring is expected to be available next month. (Blackbird in the Snow /Courtesy photo)

She does know that in the late 1830s to '40s, clothing covered the entire female body. With women wearing high necklines and bonnets over their ears, necklaces and earrings were not needed. Bird believes that makes her modern versions even more interesting.

The star symbolized the spirit, guidance; the moon, death and rebirth, as well as female spirituality. And the swallow symbolized faithfully returning home, she says.

I imagine a Victorian woman wearing the bird pin on her hat. Maybe her lover is out at sea. Maybe he gave it to her before he left. Every morning she puts it on her hat and sends him a prayer to safely return. Six years pass. Just when she's about to lose hope, she hears a knock on her door. Her nearly 6-year-old daughter runs to the door, the bird now on her hat. Her mother pulls the new moon pin off her hat. It is time for rebirth but not death, she smiles.

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